A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm
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A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm
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Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm
#2Their are no "three-acre farms," at best it's a garden. My old boss operated a 80 acre micro farm while holding down a full time job. It was a hobby that at best broke even, but he had fun.
PS: They might say be operating a stall at a locally grown market, but it's the stall not the farm that's generating income.
Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm
#3Farming is no way to make a living. I'm glad that these people are finding success, but I come from a farming community and family and for decades farming has only been affordable if you also had another full-time job. Although microfarms for trendy produce might not be so bad.
Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm
#4Stardew Valley?
Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm
#5Their are no "three-acre farms," at best it's a garden. My old boss operated a 80 acre micro farm while holding down a full time job. It was a hobby that at best broke even, but he had fun. PS: They might say be operating a stall at a locally grown market, but it's the stall not the farm that's generating income.
Are you sure about that? I think you definitely get a few crops off that to sell at markets or to restaurants. You could probably even do eggs off that.
Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm
#6Their are no "three-acre farms," at best it's a garden. My old boss operated a 80 acre micro farm while holding down a full time job. It was a hobby that at best broke even, but he had fun. PS: They might say be operating a stall at a locally grown market, but it's the stall not the farm that's generating income.
> Their are no "three-acre farms," at best it's a garden.
It's not easy to make a decent living of a tiny farm, but some people have done it. Most of them target higher-end products and direct-to-customer sales. For example, Eliot Coleman had a 5-acre farm on the coast of Maine that apparently did fairly well selling fresh local vegetables during the fall and spring for many years. His book is excellent and fascinating: https://www.amazon.com/Four-Season-Harvest-Organic-Vegetable... One of his big staple crops was really good carrots during fall months, because frost makes carrots sweeter, and if you don't use machines to harvest them, it's possible to grow tastier varieties.
There are also some very tiny Vermont farms that produce gourmet cheese. This obviously adds a huge amount of value to their milk production.
So in general, you're right. But it actually possible to make a living selling luxury products to foodies. The stereotypical farmer in this market is somebody who retired young from Wall Street, and who has fairly impressive business and marketing skills.
Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm
#7Farming is no way to make a living. I'm glad that these people are finding success, but I come from a farming community and family and for decades farming has only been affordable if you also had another full-time job. Although microfarms for trendy produce might not be so bad.
As someone with first hand experience or exposure, what do you think are main reasons?
I'm still amazed at how cheap food is in the U.S. (though quality just isn't there for the most part).
Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm
#8Their are no "three-acre farms," at best it's a garden. My old boss operated a 80 acre micro farm while holding down a full time job. It was a hobby that at best broke even, but he had fun. PS: They might say be operating a stall at a locally grown market, but it's the stall not the farm that's generating income.
> Their are no "three-acre farms," at best it's a garden. It's not easy to make a decent living of a tiny farm, but some people have done it. Most of them target higher-end products and direct-to-customer sales. For example, Eliot Coleman had a 5-acre farm on the coast of Maine that apparently did fairly well selling fresh local vegetables during the fall and spring for many years. His book is excellent and fascinati…
I added a PS, but these value adds stop being a farm. If you operate a cheese factory that can create a lot of value from a small area, but it generates value even if you use milk from a different farm. Operating a stall is again a way to generate revenue, but that's completely independent from actually growing food.
Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm
#9Their are no "three-acre farms," at best it's a garden. My old boss operated a 80 acre micro farm while holding down a full time job. It was a hobby that at best broke even, but he had fun. PS: They might say be operating a stall at a locally grown market, but it's the stall not the farm that's generating income.
"PS: They might say be operating a stall at a locally grown market, but it's the stall not the farm that's generating income."
If the stall sells products coming from the farm, the difference is lost on me.
It's like saying "it's the Sales department that generate income, while Engineering is just a cost".
Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm
#10Farming is no way to make a living. I'm glad that these people are finding success, but I come from a farming community and family and for decades farming has only been affordable if you also had another full-time job. Although microfarms for trendy produce might not be so bad.
> Farming is no way to make a living.... Although microfarms for trendy produce might not be so bad.
You contradict yourself here. If they manage to find a niche in which they make a living, then they're doing fine. It doesn't make sense to grow corn when that portion of the market is already saturated.